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I wonder why I don't feel them more often then. This was my first one. I've always wanted to give it a go so I'm happy I was in a position to notice it. And I was in Mass and this thing was in Virginia. If 3.5 happen a day and you can feel it outwards in a 700 mile radius like I did this one, then it seems that tens of millions of people must experience earthquakes everyday. I wonder why so few can report having felt one then...

Some people are more sensitive to earthquakes than others. Perhaps you are one of them. When I lived in California, often during minor earthquakes my ex would feel them, but I was not sure until seeing the water in the fishtanks sloshing about.

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__________________Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities.

I live in western PA about 20 miles to the southeast of Pittsburgh. I felt today's quake while sitting at my desk in a third floor office space. My first thought was that the historic building I was in was finally collapsing. It seemed to rumble and sway every so slightly, and I observed a little turbulence in a half-full bottle of water on my desk. A few seconds after the first occurrence, it repeated itself. I grabbed my purse and joined the mass exodus out into the street.
I have experienced mild earthquakes before when I lived in CA and this felt somewhat similar, but I believed it was very unlikely here. I gave more credence at the time to the building caving in due to a structural problem. It seems we always have a contingent of workmen in the place fixing some deterioration or another. We could have built the place ten times over for what it has cost to keep us there.

It's kind of a sad commentary on the state of the world that you thought the trembling was the result of a bomb going off.
Sigh.....

Well, it's either that or a helicopter trying to land on the building roof. When the quake hit here we had that noise for a good 10 seconds before the shaking began, which finally clued me in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhoDaresWins

... but I believed it was very unlikely here. I gave more credence at the time to the building caving in due to a structural problem.

Sink hole from a coal mine!

After the minor quakes you find out just how well your drywall was taped...

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After the minor quakes you find out just how well your drywall was taped...

Ah, yes, the area IS honeycombed with old coal mines. I saw my first sink hole quite spectacularly when cutting through a little hamlet on my way to work about 10 years ago. I flew around a bend and was stopped dead in my tracks by a huge, gaping depression that swallowed up both sides of the road. Really shocking to me... must have happened over night and road was closed for a year.
And then there are all the gas wells in our shared former hometown. Every once in awhile they have an explosion there that creates havoc. The Marcellus Shale drilling and the environmental impact is much debated in the various communities right now.

Some people are more sensitive to earthquakes than others. Perhaps you are one of them. When I lived in California, often during minor earthquakes my ex would feel them, but I was not sure until seeing the water in the fishtanks sloshing about.

The 3.5 a day are mostly out west. We don't get them on the east coast too often. Like someone else said, the east coast is on a pretty big plate, and when one hits it does tend to carry for a very long ways.

However, I think I'm about 50 miles from the epicenter, and I didn't feel it, probably because I was in my '97 Miata, which shakes enough on it's own. And there was a 4.2 aftershock just 30 minutes ago, which I didn't feel either.

I was just finishing up lunch at a local pizza joint here on Long Island when the building started to shake for about 10-15 seconds. Some of the inside lights hang from cables so they were visibly swaying.

The pizza joint is the end store of a set of stores so I wondered if the event was limited to just the group of stores. But when we saw an office building/bank across the way evacuate then we knew it was more than that.

I saw no damage of any type in my walk back home. When I returned to my apartment building I saw some of the neighbors in the lobby. Some had already seen local and MSNBC news coverage which said it was centered northwest of Richmond, VA, with the effects felt as far away as Detroit.

I experienced an earthquake (low 4s) in San Diego back in the 1980s. It was centered in the high inland desert and the shock wave felt like a very fat squirrel ran across the roof of the house. My cousin was napping in her waterbed at the time....must have felt like a tidal wave LOL!

My dad, who lives about 15 miles away from me on Long Island, told me he felt nothing. He said he was dozing and may have heard a rumble (which is odd because I heard no rumble where I was and it was not very noisy inside the pizza joint).

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Retired in late 2008 at age 45. Cashed in company stock, bought a lot of shares in a big bond fund and am living nicely off its dividends. IRA, SS, and a pension await me at age 60 and later. No kids, no debts.

I work in DC and live in Alexandria. I work for the gov't, but my first thought was actually a construction explosion or something, as there is lots of construction nearby. At my house, I had two broken wine glasses; two broken picture frames, pictures on the wall all askew, and just general shifting of most things loose. Weirdly, the TV upstairs almost fell off the bureau, which is a little scary - it's heavy!

The cats seemed a little freaked when I got home - they were in unusual places in the house, and didn't come down to eat right away. But, everything seems back to normal now.

Glad everyone is safe.

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Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less travelled by...

The best reaction I heard was from one of the guys at work. He called home to check and his wife's reaction was to yell at their two boys, ages 10 and 12, playing in the basement to "Knock it off down there before you break something!"

I've experienced several while I lived in MO. The first quake I experienced, I was 10 years old and sitting on the toilet.

Connection? Just sayin'...

I was in San Jose a few weeks after the '89 quake, on a train-cation for Megaconglomocorp. There was a mild aftershock, which sounded like someone scooting a piece of heavy furniture across the floor above us. One story building, though... Didn't know until that evening that it was a "quake".

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